How They Became Seventh-day Adventists
By A. J. S. B.
A Demonstration of Missionary Methods That Have Proved to Be Successful
It is always encouraging to hear converts tell how they were led to accept the third angel's message. Of special interest to the missionary worker, also, are the means and methods which have proved successful in leading those not of our faith to become Seventh-day Adventists. Some time ago the writer secured information from over one thousand of our church-members, located in forty-four different churches, telling how they were led to accept the truth. Slips of paper were passed to the church-members, on which they were asked to write (1) name and address; (2) the name of the minister, Bible worker, book, paper, pamphlet, tract, or any other means which was chiefly instrumental in leading them to become Seventh-day Adventists; and (3) whether the reading of the Bible alone had been the means of changing their belief. Here, in brief, are the results, showing the chief means of leading these 1,080 persons to accept the truth:— Our ministers, 353 persons, or about one third. Thirty-one of these were converted through camp-meetings. Our publications (directly), 230 persons, or about one fourth. Our periodicals changed the belief of 80 persons; our books, of 77; our tracts, of 47; our miscellaneous publications, of 26. Birth, home influences, relatives, 205 persons, or about one fifth. Cottage Bible readings, house-to-house work, 162 persons, or about one sixth. Bible only, lay members, Sabbath-schools, our institutions, etc., 130 persons, or about one eighth. Through Bible only, 58 persons; lay members, 48; Sabbath-schools2011; our institutions, 10; miscellaneous, 3. Total, 130. Which periodicals, books, and tracts were read, and what each of these publications did in the way of changing the belief of these persons, appear in connection with the lists of these publications appearing in note 2. It will be noted that the foregoing statistics are confined to the means which were chiefly instrumental in leading people to become members of our denomination. If we take into consideration the fact that our literature also played an important part in the work done by the ministry, by Bible workers, and by lay members, it is safe to conclude that the printed page was the means, directly and indirectly, of leading into this blessed truth no fewer than two thirds of the 1,080 persons referred to in this report. Our periodicals alone changed the belief of one out of every thirteen of the 1,080; our books, one out of every fourteen persons, and our tracts, one out of every twenty-three persons. From the large number of letters received, I have selected the following items—long stories condensed into one, two, or more sentences. Briefly expressed, the causes of conversion were: CASE 1.—Reading the Signs of the Times at the bedside of his brother. CASE 2.—The loaning to him of a copy of “Bible Readings for the Home Circle.” CASE 3.—A tract sent from Colorado to Canada. CASE 4.—Inviting a Seventh-day Adventist to ride with him in his wagon fifteen miles. The Adventist talked the Sabbath all the way. The man could not throw the subject off his mind. He became a Seventh-day Adventist soon after. CASE 5.—He was invited to attend a Seventh-day Adventist tent-meeting by his own pastor—a Methodist. Result: he accepted the truth soon after. CASE 6.—A sick lady was in a Catholic hospital. A nurse loaned her a copy of “Great Controversy.” Through its perusal she was converted, and accepted present truth, much to the chagrin of the nurse, who, when loaning her the book, was not aware of its contents. CASE 7.—He started in to read the Bible with the firm determination to prove that Sunday, and not the Sabbath, is the Lord's rest day. Result: he accepted the truth. CASE 8.—“A young man came to the door to sell us the Harvest number of the Signs of the Times. My wife refusing to buy, he offered to leave it for examination. Wife accepted it. When I came home, she showed it to me, and I said, ‘Wife, I believe this is just what we have been looking for.’ We at once subscribed for the Signs, and in a few months Elder — opened a series of tent-meetings. I attended, and, as a result, accepted the truth.” He is now a church elder. CASE 9.—“A Catholic friend handed me a bundle of religious papers, in which were two copies of the REVIEW AND HERALD. The reading of these, together with two tracts on the Sabbath and immortality questions, did the work.” He is now a typesetter in one of our publishing-houses. CASE 10.—For ten long years she had been living in the mountains, away from any church. Some one (she knows not who) sent her the Signs of the Times and other reading-matter occasionally. She finally took her stand. CASE 11.—One daughter writes: “Mother bought ‘Great Controversy.’ It did the work.” CASE 12.—A wife writes: “I accepted the truth through my husband and the Bible.” CASE 13.—She saw a copy of the Bible Echo in a store window in Melbourne, Australia. She investigated, accepted our faith, and is now one of our best church librarians. CASE 14.—He accepted the truth through Bible readings given to him by Brother — while they were picking grapes together at Lemoore, Cal. CASE 15.—His seeing one of our brethren quit work early Friday evening led him to think and investigate. This occurred five years before he met our workers and accepted the truth. CASE 16.—The entire Baptist church of — was advised by its pastor to study the Bible to see which day is the true Sabbath. One sister writes: “Six of the fifty members, of which I was one, began keeping the Sabbath.” CASE 17.—He was an infidel. He was eating lunch with other workmen by a fence when a Seventh-day Adventist canvasser came along. Failing to sell any publications, the canvasser gave a copy of the Sentinel to the other workmen. Their liking the paper led this infidel to investigate the Sabbath and other doctrinal questions. Having no Bible in the house, he went to a neighbor and offered a load of wood for a New Testament. He secured the same, read it through, and accepted the truth. He is now the elder of one of our churches. Do not the foregoing statistics and incidents carry with them their own lesson to you, to me? What has been done through the circulation of our literature and other means in the past, will be done again, yes, is being done now. The only question is, What shall be our part in this work? Every soul has at least one talent that he can use in spreading this message. If you begin to work for your neighbors and friends, you may discover that you have two, three, five, or even ten talents. Begin working in your neighborhood, with your neighbors and near-by friends. Then reach out to others who are farther away. Pick out from the many methods used with such good success in the conversion of these 1,080 church-members, those which you think you could use to the best advantage. Study the kinds of work pointed out on the individual weekly report blank. God knows which way is the best for you to reach that business man, that physician, that school-teacher, that father, that mother, that daughter, that son. Shall it be by means of a missionary visit, a leaflet, a tract, a paper, an act of kindness, a missionary letter, or the loan of a good book? Ask your Heavenly Father. He knows, and he will let you know. To the Elder or Missionary Leader
(Not to be read publicly) “BIBLE PRINCIPLES OF MISSIONARY WORK.”—The leader should seek to draw out the individuality of the church-members in the preparation of various parts of this program. This topic has been arranged so that the members of a small or of a large church may have a part in it. Let the following subdivisions of the subject be assigned to nine, eighteen, or even thirty members. Turn the subdivisions, or subtopics, into questions, which may be answered by the members' reading the replies from the Scriptures. If necessary, several questions may be developed by the leader from each subtopic. The outline, as it appears in ‘Evangelization of the World,’ is as follows:— “HOW THEY BECAME SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.”—The leader and members may read alternately the seventeen interesting cases reported under this topic, or the leader may read the first part, and call upon members to read the cases, according to previous assignment. Following are the lists of periodicals, books, and tracts mentioned in the “Symposium:” 1. Periodicals.—The Signs of the Times changed the belief of 54 of the 1,080 persons; the REVIEW AND HERALD, 7; the Bible Echo, 2; Good Health, 2; Danish-Norwegian paper, 2; the Sentinel, Our Little Friend, Health Reformer, German paper, Missionary Echo, 1 each; periodicals whose titles were not given, 8; etc. Total, 80 persons. 2. Our Books.—“The Great Controversy” led 1 person to see the truth; “Daniel and the Revelation,” 17; “Bible Readings,” 12; “History of the Sabbath,” 9; “Marvel of Nations,” 4; books (no titles given), 3; “Synopsis of Present Truth,” 2; “Early Writings,” 2; “His Glorious Appearing,” 2; “Steps to Christ,” “Patriarchs and Prophets,” “Prophecies of Jesus,” “Our Banquet,” and “Helps to Bible Study,” 1 each. Total, 77 persons. 3. Our Tracts.—“Elihu on the Sabbath” convinced 6 persons; “Scripture References,” 2; “Which Day Do You Keep, and Why?” 2; tracts (no titles given), 22; “Heralds of His Coming,” “How the Sabbath Came to Me,” “Is Man Immortal?” “Sleep of the Dead,” “The Two Laws,” “Who Changed the Sabbath?” “Matthew Twenty-four,” “Christ's Second Coming,” “Coming of the Lord,” “Sunday Not the Sabbath,” “State of the Dead,” “The Sabbath,” “The Sabbath in Prophecy,” “Both Sides of the Sabbath Question” (Danish), and “Eleven Sermons on the Sabbath,” 1 each. Total, 47 persons. “Passing of Report Blanks.”—A missionary worker in the New Jersey Conference writes thus of the importance of reporting: “As these little blanks face us week by week, they are mute witnesses to our souls of what kind of servants we are in the Lord's vineyard. The one who never has anything to write down on them is failing in a wide range21of missionary activity. We need to face those little appealing blanks once a week, and to remember that ‘we shall individually be held responsible for doing one jot less than we have ability to do. The Lord measures with exactness every possibility for service. . . . We shall be judged according to what we ought to have done.’—Christ's Object Lessons, page 363. Do we not need to think of this often, if we would hear the ‘Well done’ at last?” “Plans for Work.”—Concerning the organization of missionary bands, it has been found helpful, in churches of ten or more members, to organize a number of missionary bands of four or five members, each one to make a specialty of some one of the many lines of work indicated on the weekly report blank. One band may look after the Christian Help work, such as the care of the sick, chopping wood for needy families, visiting hospitals, etc. Another band may have charge of the mailing of the missionary club of periodicals, securing the names and addresses of persons likely to be interested in our literature. Still another would direct the distribution of our tracts in packages and from reading-racks. Our instruction from the spirit of prophecy on this question is as follows: ‘The formation of small companies as a basis for Christian effort has been presented to me by One who can not err.’—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VII, page 21. Experience has proved that this is true. A. J. S. B.